


When It Pours

by blackinkedbs



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Rina Week 2020 (HSM: The Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24216820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackinkedbs/pseuds/blackinkedbs
Summary: Everyday cannot be sunny. Some days, it will rain and when it does it pours.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Kudos: 15





	When It Pours

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i wanted to participate in rina week but could unfortunately only join in on one day. so I decided to participate in this day of all days. I hope you enjoy reading :) if anyone has any questions about this feel free to ask because from an outside perspective certain things could look confusing (sorry!)

Gina Porter wasn’t known for making mistakes— she could count the amount she made on her fingers. She was nowhere near perfect, but she wanted people to think she was. She wanted people to think she was untouchable because that way, no one would get close enough to hurt her. It helped that she and her mom were always on the move, traveling from house to house, never really being able to call a place home. 

She expected East High to be different. When she transferred there her freshman year, she wanted to keep herself on a pedestal so high no one could reach her. She aced all of her classes and most notably at East High, was known as a “choreographer’s dream” in the drama club. With each person she encountered, she would act cold, never letting them get close— until she met Ricky Bowen.

In the second semester of her freshman year, her school ran a production of High School Musical. For some reason, throughout this time, Ricky wouldn’t leave her alone. At first it bothered her that an obnoxious skater boy always wanted to talk to her, text her, and be with her, but eventually, he became her best friend. Soon enough, she always wanted to talk to him, text him— until now.

It was sophomore year when Gina received the message, for once, she was dreading since she first arrived,

“Gina, sweetie, can you come here?” her mom called from downstairs. Gina ran downstairs, knowing exactly how this conversation was going to go, 

“Let me guess. We need to talk, right? Then you’re going to try and console me, tell me everything is going to be alright as long as we’re together,”

“Gina,” her mom said as she tried to take her hand,

“Please, don’t,” Gina pulled her hands away,

“I’m sorry, Gina,”

“I just want to be alone right now,” Gina ran up to her room and slammed her door shut. On most occasions, she wouldn’t have cared much about moving, but this time was different.

When she kept herself so high on a pedestal, instead of letting her stand there alone, she had friends that climbed up to join her— Ricky Bowen being the first to grab the ladder. That’s exactly why she couldn’t tell him. 

In the weeks leading up to her move, Gina tied her loose ends and said goodbye to all of her friends at East High— all but one. If she were to tell him, she knew his face would make her want to stay, even if there was no option. She knew he would have to find out some point, but she didn’t want him to find out before she left. Unfortunately for her, on the day she was leaving, he showed up on her porch step, with the face she dreaded seeing,

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she heard his broken voice and couldn’t help but drop the box that was in her hand. She didn’t expect nor want to see him at that moment, but he was there, right before his eyes. This would’ve been the perfect moment to tell him that her leaving hurt her more than he would be able to comprehend. That, if she had the choice, she would stay in Salt Lake City, with Ricky, for as long as time would allow. She wished so much that she could say all this to him, but she knew it would only hurt both of them more,

“Because I knew you wouldn’t care,” instead she said this, making sure to say it as cold and detached as possible,

“What do you mean by that?” he continued,

“Gina, of course I care about you,” he was starting to inch closer to her but she backed away,

“No, you don’t,”

“I wouldn’t be over at your house right now if I didn’t care,” she could tell he was starting to get angry,

“Gina, if anyone doesn’t care, it’s you. You told everyone but me that you were moving. I had to find out from EJ that you were moving,” she could tell he was hurt, but she couldn’t stand that he thought she didn’t care because she was far from not caring about him,

“Don’t you dare say I don’t care when I am the one that’s always there for you whenever  _ you _ need me to be,”

“I am there for you just as much as you’re there for me,” she didn’t know if it was the fact that she was trying to push him away or if she was really mad at him, but she couldn’t stop herself,

“When I needed help studying for the chemistry test and I asked you if you could help me study, what did you say?”

“I don’t remember that was so long ago,”   
  


“You said, ‘of course I can’ but do you know what happened?”

“Gi-”

“You never came. And hours later, you texted me saying ‘something with Nini came up. Sorry’”

“You can’t blame me for being a bad friend for one incident,”

“It isn’t just one incident, Ricky. It’s the time where I wanted to rehearse lines with you and you ditched me for Nini; the times where I was trying to talk to you about something, but you wouldn’t listen; the time where I was breaking down and I didn’t even bother calling you because I knew you wouldn’t answer,” she knew now, it wasn’t a matter of pushing him away anymore, but instead, pushing up all the feelings that she held in for so long to the surface. She couldn’t ignore her feelings of neglect, loneliness, and inadequacy anymore, even if now was the worst time to let them pour out,

“I loved you having you as my best friend, Ricky. I just wish you wanted to be mine too,” she into his eyes and noticed what she thought were his tears, but realized was rain dripping down his face,

“Where is all of this coming from? Why couldn’t you have told me this before? I could've changed and been a better friend to you,” his voice was back to sounding broken again and that’s what made her answer so much harder: she loved him. She couldn’t exactly place how, but she knew it was enough to blind her from all the stuff he’d done to hurt her in the past. If he were to throw a dagger into her heart, she wouldn’t care because she loved him that much. That was she was originally afraid of moving to East High: getting so close to someone that she didn’t want to let go,

“It’s always been there. I just didn’t see it until now,”

“Please, Gi. I can be a better friend to you. We can try long-distance, too. I’ll call you every day-”

“No, you won’t,”

“You don’t know that,”

“But I know you, Bowen,” it hurt her, finally admitting that to herself and him. That she knew him enough to know that he would break her heart over and over again and she would let him. She couldn’t do that to herself anymore, she had to let him go,

“I’m sorry, Gina,” he said taking her hand, but for some reason this time she let him,

“Goodbye, Ricky,” she said trying to hold back tears. She looked down at their hands because she knew that if she looked at his face, she would’ve lost it. 

He let go of her hands, not saying a word, and left. It felt like the ladder that he brought her so long ago was now in shambles and once again, she was separated from everything she knew. 

In some other circumstance, maybe they could’ve worked things out. Maybe instead of her pushing away, she could’ve gotten closer. Instead of letting him go, she could’ve taken his offer and started a long-distance friendship. Maybe, it would’ve turned into something more. Maybe in some other circumstance, she wouldn’t have to move at all and everything could stay the same. But Gina didn’t live in a world of maybes, even if she wanted to. It was nowhere near her life and she had to be okay with that, even if it hurt sometimes. 

Gina Porter wasn’t known for making mistakes— she could count the amount she made on her fingers. Now she would have to add one more to the list and in some ways, it seemed to be the biggest one of all:

**_Ricky Bowen_ **

She made sure to wait until she couldn’t see or hear him anymore so she finally felt free to burst into tears. It was still raining, harder than it had been before. Just like her tears, the rain didn’t just fall, it poured.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> angst day is so fun, right? ;) anyways, I didn't end up liking this one much, but decided to post it regardless. even if I didn't particularly like it, I hope you did, and maybe one day, I'll participate more in another rina week in the future.   
> P.S. check my twitter (if you haven't already) if you want to see a bonus epilogue!


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